


Snap Out of It

by joonohon



Series: Spring Ereri Week 2016 [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bathtubs, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Day one: confession, Ereri Week, Ereri Week Spring 2016, Lush Cosmetics, M/M, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:36:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6825313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joonohon/pseuds/joonohon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What came out of the shadows was more beautiful than anything Eren had ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snap Out of It

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU Eren and Levi have been best friends since they were in middle school. They both attend the same college. Eren is known for taking upon his own art projects and such, despite his major in psychology. Levi is the ever supportive BFF who has posed for more reference photoshoots and done more menial painting tasks than he wishes to admit.
> 
> The first song mentioned is Drinking Lightning by AWOLNATION  
> The second song mentioned is Lover's Spit by Broken Social Scene
> 
> Please enjoy! Leave a comment!

Eren had just finished setting up when he heard the doorbell ring. He closed the bathroom door, dusting his hands off on his jeans before answering. Levi smiled from across the threshold. He lifted a plastic bag. "I brought the undies."

Eren laughed. "Perfect. Come on in!" He closed the door behind his friend, ushering him into the bathroom. "Do you want anything to drink before we start? To eat? I have some of those vegan poppy cookies you like." 

Levi shook his head, making a tsk noise with his teeth. He paused, contemplating before shaking his head more decisively. "As tempting as those are, I'm gonna have to pass for now. I just ate with Hanji." He set his bag down in the hallway outside the bathroom. "So." He looked around, a smile playing on his lips. "What are we doing today? Going for a swim?"

Eren nodded, smiling. "Yes, actually! If you don't mind." He rubbed the back of his head, hair mussing up. "Sorry this is so last minute, I know exams are next month..."

Levi barked out a laugh, slapping Eren's arm. "Dude. Don't even start. This is nothing like that time I had to paint individual wooden squares for your damn collage." He pointed down the hall towards the living room. "Isn't it hanging on the wall over there?"

Eren nodded. "Yeah, actually! Thanks for that by the way." He blushed. "It was so stressful. It wasn't even for school." He put his hands on Levi's shoulders. "I'm sorry" he tittered, trying to suppress a smile while he shook with contained laughter.

Levi stared impassively for a moment before snorting, sputtering out a laugh with cheeks pink and eyes twinkling. "You crack me up." He shook his head again. "Let's just get this pool party over with." 

Once in the bathroom, they both stripped to their boxers, Levi gesturing for Eren to turn while he changed into the nude pair. He threw the plastic bag away before gesturing to himself. "I'm ready."

Eren turned on the water in the tub, plugging the drain while Levi waited on the toilet seat. "So I was thinking that we could start with the lights on, then we go to candles and we'll just improvise from there, yeah?" 

Levi shrugged a bit. "You're the artist, not me." He was about to get in the tub before he stopped, humming and pointing to the water. "You want a bath bomb in here or somethin'?" 

"No, not yet." Eren smiled, putting a hand to his chest before grabbing his camera and fiddling with the lens. "You know me so well."

Levi scoffed. Sliding into the water, he flicked a few droplets at Eren before laughing with a sigh, the water hot. "I would hope so after... What is it now?" He cocked his head. "Ten years?" He smiled. 

Eren's breath caught and he paused. It was the Smile. The one Levi only reserved for select people. The one that Eren had been on the receiving end of for the ten years of their friendship. The one that made his eyes crinkle and his cheeks powder pink. The one that made Eren's heart skip, just like everything else about Levi. 

A few seconds passed before Eren cleared his throat and answered. "Y-yeah." He nodded shakily, taking a seat on a tall stool in front of the tub. "Yes." He grinned wide. "It's been quite some time." 

Levi hummed, the smile still on his mouth. "So do you wanna start? How should I act?" 

Eren pursed his lips in thought. "Didn't you model for Mike's crappy aesthetic blog a few years ago? Just." He waved his hands. "Act natural. Use your modeling skills."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" Levi exclaimed. He wiggled, getting comfortable. "Ok, so do you want fun and bubbly Levi," he smiled, mouth open and hand beneath his chin and Eren aawed, "or a more contemplative Levi," he made an exaggerated confused expression, to which Eren laughed, "or a more..." He looked at Eren with hooded eyes, mouth slightly parted and a hand dragging messily through his hair. "Sexy Levi." 

Eren gaped, trying to keep his hands steady on the camera. Levi barked out a laugh, the sound echoing through the small bathroom and shaking the water in the claw foot tub. "I'm just playing, dude. I'll just pretend I'm taking a bath or something."

"Sexy Levi." Eren retorted. The man in question made an oh? sound. "Well, I'm supposed to be doing a study of light on the body. So." Eren blushed harder. "Just play with angles. Make it..." He scrambled for a word, trying to keep his calm facade in place. "Dramatic."

Levi nodded, a smirk on his face. "Gotcha. Cuz that's why you picked Sexy Levi. Sure." 

Eren squeaked out a "what's that supposed to mean?" but Levi payed him no mind. He rolled his neck, looking into the camera. And so it began.

Eren did his best to keep his mind blank, reverting to muscle memory as he pressed the capture button. The camera shutter was the only noise in the room besides Levi's soft sighs and the splashing of water against the walls of the tub. It was difficult. Even without the massive crush Eren had been harboring for over a year, Levi's beauty was very hard to ignore. His lips seemed to pout just the perfect shade of pink, skin glistening with water and eyes gleaming with confidence. Eren had no idea how much time passed while he watched Levi in the bath. He would roll his shoulders, tilt his head back and drag a palm up his Adam's apple, lounge against the far edge and display his abdomen to Eren. After however long, Levi began to shiver, putting a hand on Eren's. 

"H-hey, the water is kinda chilly now. Can we refill the tub?" His hair was plastered against his forehead, drops of water hanging off the edge of his nose. His breathing was labored, but only a bit. Eren gulped.

Without a word, Eren plunged his arm into the water, unplugging the drain before filling the tub with warmer water. He watched steam curl into the air, swirling around Levi's feet and legs. He trailed his eyes up his friend's body before meeting his gaze. With a dark flush on his cheeks and sweat on the back of his neck, he managed to ask "Do you want a bath bomb now? And the candles?" 

Levi looked at him. Before Eren could fidget or panic, he replied with a flippant "sure". His eyes were twinkling something fierce and mischievous and his cheeks were stained rose. 

Eren didn't want to think about what that meant.

Averting his gaze, he scrambled for the basket he had set up on the counter. He felt around from his seat on the stool until he groped the bomb, grabbing it and tossing it in the water. Levi yelped when it splashed and narrowly missed him. The smell of citrus quickly permeated the air, steam swirling to the ceiling.

Levi sniffed, peering at the yellow bomb drifting through the water. "Dragon's egg? That's my favorite, how did you know?" 

Eren smiled sheepishly. "I know you like the glitter, even if you don't admit it." He ignored Levi's indignant squawk and quickly grabbed his camera, aiming at the bomb swirling through the water and how it accentuates Levi's limbs. The milky yellow foam clung to his legs, tiny bubbles popping along his skin. 

"Hey can you..." Eren clicked the shutter again. "Uh, sorry. Can you play around with the bomb? Like. The water." He hummed out a sigh as he kept snapping more pictures.

Levi dipped until he was almost completely submerged, his hair spreading like spilled ink in the pale water. He closed his eyes, relaxing as the bomb floated next to his face. The shutter went off rapidly, a cacophony of clicks as Levi tilted his head this way and that, the sparkles from the bomb catching on the light from above. 

Eren sat back on his haunches for a moment, looking through the pictures. Levi looked beautiful. He cleared his throat, swallowing before standing up and grabbing the lighter. He lit the candles around the tub and took his phone out, playing a song before flipping the light switch off. 

Eren took a second to calm himself. The atmosphere went from one with barely discernible tension to suddenly intimate and strenuous. He could feel Levi staring at him as Aaron Bruno crooned softly about the coming of hell from his phone's speakers. 

"Cuz he wasted your time... In a year you'll be mine..."

The pictures were much more gentle. Levi knew how to manipulate his body to accentuate it using the candle flame, light flickering as he lay on his crossed arms at the edge of the tub. His back arched sinfully, shadow deepening the curve of his lower back and into his ass. Eren gulped and the camera clicked.

"No, you don't fare well without me..."

Those eyes wouldn't stop their assault on Eren. They followed him everywhere, not looking at the camera. Levi took a candle and held it in his palms just below his chin, light and dark playing games on his cheekbones and lashes. The water clinging to his face sparkled like the glitter and freckles that peppered his skin. 

"We're drinking your lightning... We're drinking your lightning."

Putting the candle back, he sank into the water until only his eyes were visible. They glimmered like silver coins, freshly minted and shining. The ripple of the water lapped at his ears and Eren couldn't help trying to catch a glimpse of his undercut. Eren was about to open his mouth right when Levi, seemingly reading his mind, turned around and lifted his hair to show his undercut, shimmer caught in the grains as he gripped his longer hair with slender fingers. The camera went off violently, the sway of the candlelight making a show of the way it sparkled in between the strands and his fingers. 

"Can you blow out a candle for me?" Eren asked, camera already poised for the shot. The camera clicked just as those flower-petal lips blew air ever so gently to wipe out the flame of the candle.

They paused for a moment. Three more candles remained. Eren looked at Levi, concern marring his features. "Is the dark ok?" Levi nodded. 

Just as the song changed the last candle was blown out, and darkness enveloped the room. For some reason, Eren was afraid to take a picture.

He didn't want to see what the flash would reveal. 

Eventually, Levi's labored breathing jarred him out of his fear, he held his own breath and clicked the shutter. 

What came out of the shadows was more beautiful than anything Eren had ever seen. Levi looked ethereal, arms around his folded legs with lips parted and eyes gazing seductively at Eren from the far end of the tub. With each flash, water lapped against the porcelain and Levi moved closer. He stalked like a big jungle cat closing in on its prey, bones rolling under his skin and eyes locked on his. Each flash was a snapshot of the hunt, a montage of nature's cycle unfolding in front of Eren's camera. 

"All these people drinking lover's spit..."

The last picture (and Eren's personal favorite) was of Levi with his hands clutching the edge of the tub, vaulting his torso out of the water with hair in his eyes and the flash making him shine like a marble statue. Before Eren could appreciate it the image was gone, as was Eren's restraint, and he couldn't stop himself as a whispered "beautiful" echoed in the small bathroom.

There was silence but for the slapping of water in the tub. 

Just as Eren was about to hastily get up and turn the light on, an apology bursting from behind his teeth, a large splash sounded and wet hands gripped his shoulders. 

Their lips met at the music crescendoed, a slippery nose poking at his cheek. A floodgate had opened and Eren sucked in a breath through his nose. They parted and met again, Eren's camera dropping softly to the floor as he reciprocated and threw his arms around Levi's neck. He whispered again, "beautiful", and Levi sighed in response, a soft hum coming from his throat and making their lips tremble. 

The water went cold with the passing of time, their whispered confessions warming them with the swell of their hearts. Just how long they spent there, neither knew, but they had both done ten years of waiting. 

They had all the time in the world, now.


End file.
